09 June, 2008

Purple Beauties: Masala Badane Palya

Masala Badane Palya

What do you cook when you are alone at home and just have to cook for yourself? With my HD away on business trip for one full week, I spent first two days by eating all left over and took dry sandwich for lunch box. When there was nothing left in fridge, I went for frozen Parathas and canned curries and takeaways. It went on like this for next two days and the time came for me to move my a*&$% to kitchen when my tummy went on strike for torturing it and wouldn’t listen to any of my poor excuses for not in a mood to cook for myself. Ha, what was I thinking? I could enjoy one week of bachelor life without cooking, washing the dish and spending the evening with my favourite book and TV shows? Tough luck!!!

Thankfully there was someone who came to my rescue. My true knight in shining armour. The one only dark, handsome and pot bellied Baby Brinjals (what did you think? Tsk tsk… Dirty minds ;). I usually go for stuffing them with spice mix when ever I get these lovely purple beauties. This time around I neither had time nor energy (read to lazy to cook) to do it. So I went for next best thing, stir fried them. Now came the question of what spices to add, do I need to use onions and tomatoes, etc etc… Sometime you can become quite creative when you are too lazy to do anything and the best example is my own creation of this Masala Badane Palya. Just roasted few lentils and spices and ground them with small bunch of coriander and chillies and added them to stir fried Brinjal wedges. And voila!!! A winner recipe was ready in no time at all… It tasted simply amazing (to my own surprise ;) with steaming bowl of Rice with chilled Yogurt and this lovely Yellow Watermelon to complete the dish. I can highly recommend this recipe for all you Brinjal/eggplant lovers. If you don’t have baby purple brinjals use the regular eggplants and follow the recipe. Off it goes to Sangeeth’s Eat Healthy-Fibre Rich event after I read it here and here that Eggplant is indeed high in fibre and good for weight reduction (how cool is that, more reason to eat eggplant;). And not to forget all those channa and urad dal which too are rich in fibre.

Method:Dry roast channa dal in a pan till it turns light golden brown. Similarly dry roast urad dal, coriander seeds and jeera one by one and keep them aside to cool. Once cooled grind them coarsely with fresh coriander leaves, green chillies, ginger and tamarind pulp without adding any water.Now heat a tbsp of oil in a pan and add mustard seeds to it. When it starts to pop and splutter add channa dal, urad dal, and dry red chilli. Sauté them on medium flame till dals turn golden brown in colour. Mix in cumin seeds, curry leaves and hing and sauté for just few seconds.Add brinjal wedges and keep stirring at medium to high flame for about 5-8 minutes.Add salt to taste and ground powder and mix well. Keep stirring for another 2-3 minutes till all pieces of brinjal is nicely quoted with ground mixture.Sprinkle 1-2 tbsp of water and cover the lid. Let the brinjals cook on a low to medium flame for another 10-15 minutes. Sprinkle little water in between to making sure that the masala doesn’t stick to the pan.Switch off the flame once the brinjals are well cooked and mix in finely chopped coriander leaves. Serve it with a bowl of steam cooked Rice with Ghee and Dal or with Chapatti and enjoy.

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22 comments
:

I haven't been home alone since Trisha's birth!!:DBut I am alone weekdays from 8am to 4pm, so I do cook for one sometimes, usually eat leftovers for lunch. Masale Badane palya looks fab, that's how I like it too. I made Ranji's Thambale pudi and added that to Badanekai,it was yummy.So you are alone now for a week, huh? Be safe.Enjoy your weekend, cook whatever you like, K don't like! Great opportunity now! HeHe!

Hi hi and here i was thinking you were hiding a Tall dark and Handsome man in your kitchen cupboard ;-)Well when my hubby is away i used to cook less as possible, but not shyama has grown up i can't do that any more.

Nitin had a project in Buffalo for almost one year & he'd fly out Mondays & come back Thursday nights. I too had hardly any inclination to cook for just myself & would end up either grabbing something from the cafeteria or some form of take-out or eat out with friends. When I got tired of the outside food, I'd just make simple sandwiches. Your badanekayi palya looks delish! Love it in any form (now. different story when I was a kid!)

@ashakka,what is tambale pudi? i got to check it at ranji's blog. as K is allergic to brinjal I cooked them for myself. i do buy brijal once in a month for myslef:) K was away from monday to friday, not during weekend. fortuantely the weather is pretty good these days(touch wood) and we were busy with gardening during weekend. hope u too had gr8 weekend:)

@happy cook,no such luck darling;) he he he...

@cham,oh, maggi noodles rules my kitchen when i have to cook for myself:)

@sug,LOL... aadat se majboor ;)

@priya,u can find them easily in any asian stores. these days u can find them even in tesco as they have started selling some indian greens and veggies like dudhi, bhindi, plantain, baby brinjals, kolahbri, methi leaves, palak etc.

@arun,thanks:) i changed the template before i left to india. i love to play with css and html codes as i usually get bored of same look in few months:)

@sireesha,thanks dear girl:)

@mallika,my man is allergic to brinjals honey:) so no such luck;)

@uma,u lucky girl:)

@jyo,thats what i end up doing eventually:)

@vani,i know exactly what u mean by that. i feel really lazy to cook for myself and the biggest prob is washing the dish and cleaning the kitchen;) badane was one of very few veggies i liked even as a kid:)

@coffee,yeah girl, i love it sooooooooo much:) i know some ppl r having prob with their posts showing up at TOI. got to leave mesg to sailu.

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About Sia

Born in India and raised in fun and food loving family, I currently reside in UK with my better half and my two babies, five years old son and nine years old food blog. My cooking style has strong root in Indian culture and at the same time embraces the world cuisine with equal passion. With never ending love for food, spice and life, I am passionate about cooking and making Indian food less intimidating, healthy and easy to cook which reflects in my blog Monsoon Spice which has been ranked one among Top Indian food blogs. Read more…

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